2.11 I Protest

Jet holds a protest in France, and the French people totally fall for it.

Things are not green enough, we need more rocks! Rocks are great!

((these lime green eyes show up in my game around this time, but I can't think of anyone I put in the bin with them, do random, vivid colors sometimes get generated?))

Jyoti attends, but mostly because she couldn't stay in that sweltering kitchen for another second. It was, as they say, too hot for her. The breeze outside is perfect, and the perfect place to feel complete numbness.

He didn't look at all like the person she knew. Desire and disdain swirled thinly below the surface of his features while he talked with her mom. His voice, so usually soothing, became something invasive and cold.

'Creatures of the night... are not improved upon in the daylight.' She thinks the quote is from an old book. It's the first time, she realizes, that she's ever thought of Loki as something not human.

Loki leans in and Meghan must be able to feel his breath cold on her neck. To her credit, she remains unmoved. “You don't have to stay like you are.” He tells her.

“You don't have to stay in this aging body with a broken mind, wondering if you'll ever come up for air. Think of it. You could be like I am, Meghan...” He trails off, knowing that nothing he will say today will reach her. Hoping to plant the seed anyways. “You could watch over your precious family for a very, very long time, to guide them, to know them. To see what they become.”

“The actual difference between you and I, Loki, is that I know when to take my medication.” Meghan responds back indifferently.

Dustin just holds his daughter up. Knowing that she felt shame, knowing that she had been betrayed in such a public way. Knowing that she was finding out some very important things about what it was like to be an adult, in this insane world. Knowing that it was raw. She suspected, at the time, that he was feeling a small amount of the same things.

Dustin lets Meghan handle things for awhile, even though it's already gone too far for his tastes. He wanted to know his wife's answer, although he trusts her completely.

“Maybe you could go and check on Jet, for me?” He finally asks Jyoti in a gentle voice. It's a way out from this moment, and she takes it. Loki watches her leave, but does nothing to stop her.

Christian had followed afterwards, worrying over her man and forgetting her spaghetti at the hostel. So, Jyoti and Christian end up watching Jet piddle the afternoon away like a man possessed. Christian... doesn't seem to know what was really going on in the kitchen, but Jyoti knows now.

Her mind flashes back to sometime long ago when Malcolm, desperate for her not to get on a Ferry, pleaded that she didn't follow Loki's voice.

How sweet that voice was, in the darkness of her youth, a lilting cadence to comfort, and a balm to sooth. She resisted, but it was only a matter of time.

...Why did he not take her with him then?

He could have done... anything. But instead he'd played so many games.

Jet is under that influence now. Jyoti swallows a lump in her throat, trying not to worry as old memories resurface. If Loki wanted to hurt her brother, he would have.

That's when she realizes it. Malcolm. He left her there, at the pier alone, because of Malcolm. Loki backed off... because he had been alive to stop it. Even when she screamed at him, and pushed him away.

She could have hit Malcolm many times over for not possessing the same quality of speech as the confident young apparition of her imagination. For not being able to hold on to her tighter, but he would never have... tricked her into liking him.

Now, even her memories of Malcolm, are somehow tainted because of Loki.

*sluurrrp*

Whatever Jet's cause was, everyone seems to be really getting into it. Jyo is not sure she wants to hear so many angry people shouting, after a while.

Maybe he made things a bit greener, for whatever reason though? (I think the balloons make it a success, doesn't that negate the whole green energy argument, if you're going to release wildlife-mauling rubber and strings into the sky afterwards...))

The fanged man speaks softly, after Jyoti leaves. “Are you going to hold her back, or would you let her make her own choice?”

Dustin clenches his jaw so he doesn't open it into some kind of guttural scream. “This is about all I can take, Loki. She made a choice about you a very long time ago. If you've managed to leave her... us alone for this long, what's the point of interfering in her choices now? Furthermore, do you think Meghan would go with the man who just ruined her daughter's life? Willingly, you think she would choose to be with you now?”

“I can extend her life, she could live however she wants.” The man says with quiet conviction.

“She is living however she wants. So back off. Besides that, you don't seem to be close to alive, if you're unable to move on like this, dwelling on the distant past. Can't you get some therapy somewhere? Do you need a loan to help you pay for it?”

Hearing the exasperation in her husband's voice, Meghan wordlessly steps over to Dustin and holds his hand, he squeezes it in reassurance. The couple stares at Loki, and Loki nods congenially. “I'll let you think about it.” He tells Meghan. “Also Dustin, you have not asked, but I'm going to make you a promise. Jyoti will not be without protection and safety. I'm sure you don't want this, but I'll be watching over her.”

Dustin is finally too angry to speak, and Meghan doesn't say anything, so Loki turns to leave as well.

The family reluctantly stays a few more days in France. Dustin hovers, but Jyoti keeps to herself. He knows worrying over it won't change anything. Won't dissipate the anger or heal the trauma.

Claudine Girard walks by to make fun of the aging magician, asking if he's going to perform at the geriatrics home while he's here. She's a baby compared to him.

He responds by levitating her five feet into the air in the middle of the bookstore. She squeaks something unintelligible out.

That's better.

The locals, at least, learn to respect his name again for awhile. Not that it corrects his paternal neglect.

Immune to her father's antics, Jyoti tries to focus on reading an entire novel for once. Her mind needs to be occupied elsewhere, like now.

Jet understands what happened to him better after Jyo explains it. He has internal turmoil about the way he had been manipulated. The feeling had been... intense. His work will take on a supernatural turn for a while.

“Show me.” Jyo persists. She's not accustomed to sparring with her mom. The events of the last few days have her outwardly calm, yet simmering on the inside. The way her mom had handled Loki had been... inspiring.

“Angry is better than afraid.” Meghan begins the lesson.

“Wrath without skill is inept.”

“Skill is not to be used for revenge.”

Joyti balks, her mom sounds ...coherant. No wonder she kept up the discipline of martial arts throughout her life. It seemed like her mind was working better than ever.

Meghan continues as she is met with Jyo's rapt attention. “Get revenge by living a better life than your enemies live. Live happily, and without regret. When you get home to your son, love him, and focus on his future. Don't even let the boy's father rot in the recesses of your mind.”

...Jyo gets the feeling that Meghan isn't able to contain her anger well, either. “I hope he comes around long enough for me to start hitting him.” She admits.

Meghan yells, ending the bout. “Distraction will cost you everything!”

That's how all the pamphlets on the subject of self-defense sound at least. She wins 2-1.

Meghan finds time to be with Dustin too. In fact, it's hard for them to be apart. Dustin may not be sharing much about his emotional state right now, but as the day of the incident with Loki came to a close he'd admitted it privately to his wife. He had no idea how it would have gone if he'd physically fought with Loki, and it wasn't likely to have solved anything. “You could have chosen differently.' He tells her, a trace of concern revealed in his tone.

“I don't want a life without you in it, no matter how long.”

Dustin shakes his head at her, part of him doesn't understand it. He trails his fingertips gently over her chin, not able to ask her why.

“You saved me.” She tells him simply.

“Did you think I would forget?”

And the family returns home... cherishing their time together, feeling the fleetingness of it all.

Pursuing simple goals, rather than the big ones.

Biding their time.

Taking careful steps in a forward direction.

Making bigger plans for the future. A future in which their own children will one day live safely. “Are you sure that you're up for this?” He asks her, not for the first time.

“I'll go wherever you go.” She says simply.

The day after their private ceremony Jet and Christian get packed, ready to leave together.

“We're going to be nearby, but only until we have answers about the case I'm working on. Christian and I will relocate wherever it's needed to finish things up. Are you going to be alright, here? You could come with us.” He offers, not wanting her to be alone with their eccentric parents for some reason.

“I'll be fine, Jet. Just go and start your new life already.”

Dustin is having a hard time getting used to so much change. It was just two years ago they welcomed Malcolm into the family, before tragedy after tragedy struck. He wishes there were something he could do to guarantee that Christian and Jet will have a better beginning, on a sound foundation. He had built this huge house, and so many people were leaving it.

Meghan is happy for Jet, but will miss his contrarian nature when he is gone. “I hope you both stay in touch.” She tells his young wife. “You are our family too, you know. Don't let him be too crazy, protect one another.” She is full of decent advice these days. As an elder, the carefree days of her youth finally feel as if they are slipping away. She's never felt old, or even that wise, this much before.

Obligatory farewell selfies are exchanged.

Meghan listens while Jet tries to tell Jyoti for the millionth time that art therapy would be good for her. Jyo is not interested too much in that, she can hit things with her fists and get all her frustration out that way. Meghan listens, but her heart is ages away. Deeply, she hopes that he and Everet really can find Jiraya. Openly she will tell him not to worry about it, to start a family of his own when he's ready. To focus on his writing. To be safe.

Then Dustin comes over to share some jokes with Christian and tell her a few things that Jet would be embarrassed about. Because, he can.

“Make sure you invite me to your first gallery show, okay?”

“Of course.”

Their new place is down the street.

 It has a nice pool, and an open floor plan. They settle in. To help finance this move (although he did accept a bit from his parents), Jet begins to crank out best selling novels at a breakneck pace.

The house is much quieter with Jet gone, until Casimir reminds them every three hours or so that there's an actual baby present.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In which we see that nothing much has changed, even though everything has.

Alternate title card for Jyo's generation. There are many, I might change it up when I get bored with what's up there.